The Goldman-Rota identity and the Grassmann scheme

Abstract: We inductively construct an explicit (common) orthogonal eigenbasis for the elements of the Bose-Mesner algebra of the Grassmann scheme. The main step is a constructive, linear algebraic interpretation of the Goldman-Rota recurrence for the number of subspaces of a finite vector space. This interpretation shows that the up operator on subspaces has an explicitly given recursive structure. Using this we inductively construct an explicit orthogonal symmetric Jordan basis with respect to the up operator and write down the singular values, i.e., the ratio of the lengths of the successive vectors in the Jordan chains. The collection of all vectors in this basis of a fixed rank forms a (common) orthogonal eigenbasis for the elements of the Bose-Mesner algebra of the Grassmann scheme. We also pose a bijective proof problem on the spanning trees of the Grassmann graphs.